Virtual Assistant Motion-Audio Trigger for Battery Life
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing digital assistants on portable devices face challenges in energy efficiency, as they often require continuous power to remain active, leading to battery drain and unintended activation due to reliance on audio or motion inputs alone.
Innovation Solution
A method that detects both audio and motion inputs to initiate a virtual assistant session, allowing users to raise a device near their mouth and provide audio requests without a spoken trigger, thereby reducing unnecessary power usage and preventing accidental activations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If a digital assistant is continuously active to respond to user requests, then the response time is reduced, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses periodic motion detection (raising the device) combined with audio sampling to trigger the digital assistant, replacing continuous operation with periodic activation based on user gestures and speech patterns
2Ease of operation
If the digital assistant is activated by audio input alone, then the activation is simple, but accidental activations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges motion detection (device raising gesture) with audio input detection to create a combined activation trigger, requiring both conditions to be met simultaneously to reduce false activations
3Ease of operation
If the digital assistant is activated by motion input alone, then the activation is simple, but unintended activations increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system combines motion detection (device raising) with audio sampling to create a dual-condition trigger, ensuring that motion alone does not activate the assistant without corresponding audio input
Data Source
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AI summary
Systems and processes for operating an intelligent automated assistant are provided. An example process includes detecting input representing motion of an electronic device and sampling an audio input with a microphone of the electronic device. The example process further includes determining, based on the audio input and the input representing motion of the electronic device, whether to initiate a virtual assistant session. In accordance with a determination to initiate the virtual assistant session, the example process includes initiating the virtual assistant session. In accordance with a determination not to initiate the virtual assistant session, the example process includes forgoing initiating the virtual assistant session.